Just curious about how the rest of the CC world feels about their alma mater. I love mine, always have and always will. Part of it is sports related, and yes pizzagirl and friends, I know that is silly. But I love knowing that I’ll get a “Go Blue” at any airport in the world if I’m wearing a Michigan sweatshirt. I’ve donated fairly significant amounts to the school and go back on a regular basis for events even though it’s a long way a way now. It’s part of my identity at this point and I’m fine with that.
Now that my oldest is off to school next year, I’m really hoping he’ll have the same thing one day. His school doesn’t have big time sports but there seems to be a ton of very justified school pride in every other way . It’s highly ranked but it’s the kind of school where you are actually allowed to wear the sweatshirt in public. It’s the kind of school that everyone “loves” while they are there and probably afterwards too.
Then I think there is probably a huge swath of the population that looks at their alma mater as a quick stepping stone in life. Maybe they never really think about it once they graduate. I see it out here in CA all the time. The UC grads rarely ever mention their alma mater and don’t seem to have any warm fuzzy feelings. Maybe a little exception for UCLA and UCB but still it pales in comparison to the USC and Stanford grads.
And on one last note, how come it’s ok to wear a Stanford sweatshirt but it’s not cool to wear a Yale or Harvard sweatshirt? Is that just because Stanford is nouveau awesome and HY have been awesome forever?
I’m ambivalent about my grad university (Michigan). I love being here and I’ve loved my experiences but I don’t feel any real affinity with the school itself.
Romani, you probably spent 4 years thinking ill thoughts about all those elitist bastards from Ann Arbor and how they were nothing but a bunch of spoiled rich brats:) That would have made enjoying grad school difficult. But I think most people feel similarly about grad school. It’s a different stage of life.
YES! Wisconsin- for the academics. It’s fun when sports do well but it was and is the education. Never have joined any alumni clubs- they are everywhere. Proud of my school’s reputation for academics and being liberal. Recent governor’s efforts hopefully won’t last. “When you’ve said Wisconsin you’ve said it all” phrase came long after my time there but it fits.
One’s undergrad school is where loyalties are. Grad school is within a department and not a whole school feeling.
Wonder if it is too easy to own a t-shirt/sweatshirt from name schools so having one does not connote having gone there. Also- I think people are tired of the Ivies. I see them as old fashioned and stuffy.
I was a Michigan fan until my junior year of high school. Born and raised in a solid wolverine family and area.
My opinions changed when I decided to go to MSU over U of M and many of my U of M friends just stopped talking to me and others pretended I was beneath them.
Really though, I have close to zero ill thoughts about U of M (except for my own experiences), I just was much more connected to my MSU community and feel more affinity to it. (It’s the difference between grad and undergrad like wis said!)
I love my undergraduate alma mater (Spelman College). It’s a small college, and the alumnae network is not very large - but we are very dedicated and sisterly. I love that if I meet a Spleman alumnae anywhere in the world it really is like finding a long-lost sister. I met one at a conference a couple years back and we hugged and chatted about life and the people we were both there with were laughing at how interesting the connection was. I met one in the bathroom at work a few months ago, and she introduced me to a bunch of other Spelman alumnae at my very large company who all warmly welcomed me from their far corners of the country and offered hospitality should I ever be in their areas. I donate regularly and get the alumnae magazine and all that.
I wouldn’t say I love my graduate alma mater (Columbia University) though. I like what it’s done for me professionally; I like having the name on my resume. But as far as emotional feelings or connection like I feel for Spelman, I don’t have that.
I am a Michigan grad (3rd generation) and have mixed feelings. Generally like to root for the sports teams. I had some great experiences at Michigan and some truly lousy ones. I steered my kids to LACs – and overall think it would have been a better experience for me to attend one as well. It is still probably my favorite large research university, though. And if one of my kids wanted to attend grad school there, I would think it is great for that.
I have an MBA from another Big 10 university, but I don’t feel much either way about it.
A lot of people have different feelings for their undergrad and grad schools. I recently spoke to a young woman who dislikes the vibe at Princeton, where she’s pursuing a PhD. She finds it too wealthy, too much of a bubble, too preppy and too full of itself. She does not live anywhere near the campus, and finds that most of her other Princeton grad students friends also tend to stay away from the campus when they can. That said, she’s loved her ACADEMIC experience there, and the opportunities she’s enjoyed there.
My daughter went to a considerably higher ranked grad school, yet has a much deeper connection to her undergrad university.
A friend who was a college athlete says he has mixed feelings about his undergrad school (he traveled a lot for his sport, and felt it negatively affected his experience) but absolutely feels connected to, and proud of, the school where he received his PhD.
Interestingly, Alumni attachment is something that can be measured. Over the last few years, the Gallup-Purdue index(survey) has measured Alumni attachment (along with several other items).
For example: SEC Alumni Feel Stronger School Ties Than Other Grads
I love my alma mater (Penn) and cherish not the memories, the education, and the friendships I made there (and still have today). My H went to Notre Dame, loved it, and is obsessed with the football team to the point where I wont’ watch a game with him anymore.
My S also loves his undergrad school (Fordham). It was a place where he grew up in every way possible – academically, socially and even spiritually. He lives and works in NYC and It was stays in close touch with tons of his Fordham friends who also live in/near NYC. It is not a huge sports school but he will go back for a football or basketball game with friends now and again. He had a great experience at Notre Dame for grad school and had fun with the big time sports etc.that he didn’t really have as an undergrad (thankfully he not quite as passionate as his father) but I would say that even with the sports, he feels more tied to his specific program he went to than to the school. Most of his friends from that program settled in Chicago and he tries to see them once a year or so when he goes back for a football game.
My D will be graduating this spring (Lafayette) and loves her school wholeheartedly. She also was very happy, gained confidence, had great experiences, made wonderful friends, and grew as both a student and a person.
I feel blessed that we all seemed to end up at the “right” school.
I have fondness for my alma mater, but not a strong attachment. My D, on the other hand, goes to a school where the alum network is incredibly strong, and I think she’ll come out of there with a very strong attachment.
Gator, Not surprised on the SEC schools. Heck they even love their conference enough to make up cheers about it. As a UM grad I can’t imagine sitting at a game and chanting “Big 10, Big 10”.
I love my alma mater (Cornell), but more in the way that I love guacamole rather than in the way that I love my children.
It’s not a deep, intense, or unconditional love, but I do have positive feelings about the school and my experience there, and I’m proud to be a Cornell graduate.
I also feel a continuing attachment to my alma mater – although this may partially reflect the fact that it’s also my daughter’s alma mater, so I have the relatively recent experience of being a Cornell parent on top of the long-ago experience of being a Cornell student.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with sports. I hate ice hockey, and at Cornell at the time I went there, ice hockey was the only sport anyone took seriously. I attended exactly one game, and that was one game too many.
For the record, though: One of my roommates was a member of Cornell’s women’s varsity ice hockey team in its very first year as a varsity sport. That was cool.
Ha! I will always have burnt orange blood. My grandmother went to UT-Austin in the late 1920s. So did my parents, my uncle, aunt, cousins, etc. I met my husband in grad school there.
My dad has been a professor at UT since 1965. As a result, I’ve visited campus often during the 30 years since I graduated. Dad is retiring at the end of the semester, so it will seem weird in the future! He has been the head of the Men’s Athletic Council for awhile now, and even got to go to the White House when the football team won the national championship.
So yes, I love UT and always will. The strange thing is that it looks like none of my dad’s grandchildren will attend school there. Mental illness and the “top 10%” rule thwarted the kids’ plans.
I loved Smith when I was there. I don’t know if I’d say I love it now (because I don’t feel that connected to it). I’ve met alums – they’re always polite; not always friendly. I would still recommend it for the right sort of person (woman who would benefit from a single sex environment and not be wishing she was at a bigger or coed school).
I don’t really have a fondness for my undergrad alma mater. It’s been through tough times and now it’s been gobbled up by NYU which has entirely wiped all memories of the school for the alumni. I do, however, have extreme fondness for my school friends and fraternity brothers from that era, and I remain in touch with many of them today.
